Afterthoughts on UFC 131

It looks like Kenny Florian, and Junior Dos Santos are gonna get their shots at the title. UFC 131, while lacking in the hype that would have been provided by Lesnar, went prett well last night. The undercard was filled with a couple of "meh" fights, and mostly turned up decisions, but some big KOs and JDS completely dominating Carwin gave us some excitement. Let's take a look at some of the things that can be taken away from the event:

-Sam stout finally gets a KO after a maybe the longest decision streak for a guy with the nickname “Hands of stone” in combat sports history (don’t quote me on that). Yves Edwards has been around this game a long time, and he has some great career highs: Getting to top ten status before the UFC dropped LWs, losing a very close decision that could have gone either way to Joachim Hansen when he was at his peak. However, he needs to make a decision on what to do with his career now. The way he was put down was very scary tonight. 

-Cerrone should have never been in the ring with Rocha. It was a mismatch from the start. He showcased some great leg kicks, but it was against a guy who was obviously outmatched in the striking. A fight between Cowboy and Stout could be appetizing in the future.

-Herman and Einemo went toe to toe in an exciting scrap. Just as I was thinking why does Herman keep clinching with a guy who outweighs him by 30 lbs? And boom goes the dynamite. I don’t think either guy is ready for upper echelon fighters yet, but either going up against Beltran should be a pretty action packed. Hopefully, they don’t take up spaces on the Main Card for PPV again, though.

-Mark Munoz’s power has finally transferred over to the stand up. Coming off his KO of CB, and watching him pound away at Maia tonight, I think he keeps looking better and better. His cardio shows room for improvement though. Maia’s stand up looked 10x better. I had him winning the fight, but dumb attempts at takedowns late showed he wasn’t in control. I think if he struck more during the third round, he might have been able to win over 2 scorecards. Whoever scored the fight 30-27 is another example of bad MMA judging. Along with the scorers of the Omigawa-Elkins robbery that occurred earlier.

-Kenny Florian looked good at 145. He might be out of his depths when it comes to the speed of Aldo though. Nunes had him guessing at points, but his grappling won the fight. I also think Mendes would beat him, because his scrambling speed is a level above Florian. Nunes proved that he’s a great top tier gatekeeper in my humble opinion. He would be a great test for Hioki if The Japanese standout ever makes his way to the UFC.

-AS I PREDICTED (ahem) Dos Santos was just way too much for Carwin. He out struck, and out wrestled the monster from Denver (kudos to Carwin though for never giving up). Carwin’s face resembled Diego Sanchez from his fight Kampman a few months back. Dos Santos speed and technique was just too much for Carwin to catch up with. Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos is going to be one hell of a fight.

-What were some of the judges watching tonight? Darren Elkins, while showing great heart, didn't deserve the win against Omigawa. You could give him round one, but giving him two or three shows the lack of knowledge or experience of the judges involved. One even gave him all three rounds. The Poirier - Young fight was great. I scored it for Dustin, but could definitely see it going to Young. Round one was Poirier. Round 2 was Young, and three was very close. For one Judge to score that fight a 30-27 again shows lack of intelligence in the people who judge the outcome of our sport. Maia vs. Munoz was another back and forth fight. Maia easily won the first by knocking Mark all around the ring, and even buckling him at one point. Munoz won the second by landing some hard punches of his own, and doing some damage on top. And the third, in my opinion, could have gone either way. Again one judge turned in a score card that read 30-27 Munoz. One has gotta ask, what fight was he watching in the first round? What was the person looking for? Finally, the first round of Junior vs. Shane was dominance exemplified. Dos Santos landed the better shots from the beginning, and about a minute in was pulling away. Around the three minute mark he started to tee off. He dropped Carwin at one point, and began to land tons of flush shots to Carwin's face on the ground (which probably could have been stopped at some point). Two judges scored that round a 10-9, which is again unacceptable. Outside of the Omigawa robbery, these points are mostly minute, and didn't effect the outcomes of the fights in which they happened. However, the doesn't mean we should sit back and not call out incompetence when we see it. The judging problem in MMA does not seem to be getting any better.